Street sweeper brush and holder



June 12, 1962 J, HARR 3,038,189

f STREET SWEEPER BRUSH AND HOLDER Filed July l5, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 BY @TEW ATTORNEY J. HARR 3,038,189

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR JESSE #ARR BY QQ Nfl/ly!! w WN ATTORNEY June 12, 1962 STREET SWEEPER BRUSH AND HOLDER Filed July l5, 1959 J. HARR STREET SWEEPER BRUSH AND HOLDER June 12, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July l5, 41959 INVENTOR LTL-55E Hmm ATTORNEY United States Patent Oflice 3,038,189 Patented .lune 12, 1962 3,038,189 STREET SWEEPER BRUSH AND HOLDER Jesse Hari', Maplewood, NJ.; Lillian Harr, administratrix of said Jesse Harr, deceased, assigner to National Aircraft Corporation, a corporation of New .lersey Filed July 15, 1959, Ser. No. 827,384 8 Claims. (Cl. 15-181) on the various types of mechanical brushing vehicles.

Some of them employ a complex tubular arbor mounting which requires considerable aligning and welding. Others use metal cores, on which the brush is mounted in a spiraled peripheral groove running the entire length of the mounting, thus making insertion, removal, or adjustment of any portion or all of the brush a tedious and expensive operation. Still others employ long strips of wood or metal into which the brushes are fastened by various means and which also involve considerable hand labor for the assembly or for brush removal. In many of these units the brushes have inadequate or complex locking facilities and some of them require spacers to be disposed betweenV the brush rings.

The present invention eliminates many of the disadvantages of the prior art supports by providngva single rigid tubular shell employing simple brush locking means, such as axially-directed tins xed to the shell and coacting with engaging means, such as slots, on the brushes. Furthermore, the brushes are bulged out axially into multiplanar convolutions whereby a better sweeping action is provided, and tbothersome spacer rings are eliminated.

The invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which FIGURE l is a front view of one of the brushes of a preferred embodiment, also showing a cross-sectional view of the drum support. FIGURE 2 is a front view of a brush, the upper portion of which is tilted backwardly from the vertical to show the monoplanar convolutions already referred to. FIGURE 3 illustrates a schematic side View of a brush, while FIGURE 4 presents a cross-sectional view of an upper portion of the mounted assembly depicting two adjacently-disposed brushes at their locking means. FIGURE S illustrates a cross-sectional side View of the brushes as they would appear on the mounting drum with the shell removed, while FIGURE 6 shows an entire mounted brush assembly, with the drum and brushes in crossasection. A cross-sectional isometric end View of a portion of the drum and a brush, depicting a modified form of a n locking means on the drum is shown in FIGURE 7. Similar numerals refer to similar parts in the various iigures.

Referring again to the drawings, numeral 1 represents generally a cylindrical drum or shell made of rigid material, preferably iron, and consisting of three pieces of sheet metal, 2, 2', 2", each bent into an arc of 120, each piece having an outwardly protruding edge which is welded to a similar edge of -the adjacent piece to produce a iin 3, 3', 3" which extends axially along the entire periphery of cylinder or drum 1.

Each brush, represented generally by the numeral 4, comprises a circular ring 5 of U-shaped cross-section, in which bristles 6 are held tightly by wires 7, as will be described hereinafter. After assembly, each brush is bulged out axially (in a die) into multiplanar convolutions, as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3. Thus, each brush is provided with, say three high spots 8, 8' and 8", and three low spots 9, 9 and 9, these spots preferably being ilat surfaces so that those of one brush may seat readily against those of an adjacent brush, as shown in FIGURE 5. The high spots can be called the innermost convolutions and the low spots can be called the outermost convolutions, or vice versa, when the brushes are assembled on drum 1. Each high (or low) spot has disposed, preferably in the center thereof, a mounting and locking slot It), itl', .10, these slots being spaced so as to slip over the co-engaging tins 3, 3', and 3 on drum 1.

It will be noted from FIGURE 4 that slot 10y in each flat spot or portion of the brush ring 5 is preferably formed by pushing the cut ring portion 11 forming lthe slot into the interior of the ring, which portion also serves as a support to keep bristle-binding wires 7 and the bristle loops 6 from entering the slot 1li. Bristles (which preferably are of crimped straight or spiraled metal wire) are inserted in loop form into ring 5, and the loops 6' are held down inside the ring by wires 7 which are tensioned in the ring while the latter still is in monoplanar form. The sides of ring 5 are provided with crimps or indentations 12, 12 which tend to prevent radial drifting of bristles 6 during use. The sides of ring 5 are pressed together tightly prior to insertion in the pressure forming (convoluting) die. When the brush is used in the unconvoluted form, it sweeps in a thin line having a width of the bristles, thus producing a mark on the swept surface. On the other hand, as can be seen from FIGURE 3, the sweeping path of the convoluted brush of the present invention covers a much wider path, whereby fewer brushes are necessitated for the sweeping operation, and a group of such brushes, as disposed according to the present invention, leaves no unswept area on the street.

When the brushes 4 are mounted on drum 1, they are most advantageously disposed as shown in FIGURE 5. That is, every other brush is reversed so that the low spot of one brush abuts the high spot of the adjacent brush. The dotted lines in FIGURE 2 illustrate schematically how the high and low spots of two adjacent brushes would be situated with respect to the brush depicted. When this is done, there is no need for spacers between brushes, and the assembly thereof is greatly simplified. However, in some cases, such as in the sweeping of dense or heavy material, such as sand, gravel, stones, or the like, a denser brush may be desired, and such a structure may be effected by mounting the brushes so that all of the low spots are adjacently disposed, and of course, the high spots are consequently adjaceutly disposed.

It is apparent from the structure of the brush of the present invention that when the brush 4is rotated for sweeping, the sweeping area thereof is much wider than the cross-sectional Width of the bristles thereof, so that a greater sweeping efficiency is obtained.

As is apparent from FIGURE 6, drum 1 has conventional header ends `13 and 13 welded over the respective ends of drum 1. These ends are provided -with threaded holes into which bolts 17 may be threaded for attaching stop-plates 15, 15 (which serve as stops to limit the axial travel of the brushes), and also motor engaging means 18 to which the chain drive or other motivating means is attached for rotating drum 1 over the street to be swept. The aforesaid is only one of the many types of end structures, since they depend upon the type of vehicle and mode of engagement with the driving means employed. In the case of some towed or push type sweepers, hat-type flanges are employed on the ends.

FIGURE 7 shows that tins 3 on drum 1 may be pro- 3 vided with a welded inverted-U shaped jacket 20, if desired.

Although a cylindrical shell has lbeen described herein having three mounting means (tins) for the brushes, it is apparent that one or more mounting means may be employed. The slot-iin locking means employed herein is most advantageous for this rotary sweeper, but it is to be understood that other equivalent locking means may be employed, if desired. Also, although the brush ring 5 has been described as having three convolutions, i.e., three high spots (S, 8', 8") on one side and three (9, 9', 9") on the other, it is possible to employ any number of such convultions, over two, although three are preferred, since they provide an adequate flat bearing surface for the abutting rings.

Although brushes have been mentioned having metal bristles, it is understood that other types of bristles also may be used, such as those of natural fibers, c g., palmyra, hickory, bass, and the like, or synthetic fibers such as nylon or other plastics, and plastic-coated metal wire, all of which may be straight or crimped.

I claim:

l. A rotary street sweeper brush structure of the character described comprising a rotatable hollow rigid shell serving as the brush mount, at least one locking means disposed on the periphery of said shell for locking thereon of the brushes mounted on said shell, at least one circular brush mounted axially on said shell, each brush having a mounting ring carrying radially extending bristles, and complementary locking means disposed on the inside of said ring and coacting with the locking means on the shell for restraining the ring from independent circumferential movement about said shell, said ring with bristles thereon being bulged out axially, from the normally at plane, into multiplanar alternating innermost and outermost convolutions theoretically radiating from the ring center, said locking means on said ring being disposed so that the edges of the outermost convolutions of one brush ring about the edges of the innermost convolutions of the adjacent brush ring.

2. A rotary street sweeper brush structure of the character described comprising a rotatable hollow rigid cylinder serving as the brush mount, at least one projecting n axially disposed along the outer periphery of said cylinder and serving as locking means for the brushes, and a series of circular brushes mounted on said cylinder, each brush having a mounting ring carrying radially extending bristles, said ring having at least one complementary slot on its inner periphery serving as locking means coacting with said locking iin on said cylinder for i restraining the ring from independent circumferential rotation about said cylinder, said ring with bristles thereon being bulged out axially, from a normally at plane, into multiplanar alternating innermost and outermost convolutions theoretically radiating from the ring center, and said slot in said ring being disposed so that the edges of the outermost convolutions of one ring abut the edges of the innermost convolutions of the adjacently-mounted ring.

3. A street sweeper brush structure according to claim 2 in which the cylinder has three fins and each ring with bristles thereon is bulged out into three flat equallyspaced innermost convolutions and a like number of outermost convolutions and a slot disposed in each of i the three innermost convolutions, designed to t said three fins.

4. A street sweeper brush structure according to claim 2 in which each slot has a cover therefor formed when the cut-out portion of the ring forming the slot has been pushed within the interior of said ring.

5. A rotary street sweeper brush comprising a metal mounting ring, a circular row of radially extending bristles mounted in said ring, and locking means on the inside of said ring serving to lock said ring to prevent independent circumferential movement thereof, said ring with bristles thereon being bulged out axially, from a normally ilat plane, into multiplanar alternating innermost and outermost convolutions theoretically radiating from the ring center, the center portion of each convolution having a flat surface, said locking means on said ring being disposed so that when said locking means arc in register with those of an adjacently-disposed ring, the flat surfaces of the outermost convolutions of the brush ring abut the at surfaces of the innermost convolutions of the adjacently-disposed ring.

6. A rotary street sweeper brush comprising a metal i mouting ring, a circular row of radially extending bristles mounted in said ring, and locking means on the inside of said ring serving to lock said ring to prevent independent circumferential movement thereof, said ring with bristles thereon being bulged out axially, from a normally flat plane, into multiplanar alternating innermost and outermost convolutions theoretically radiating from the ring center, the center portion of each convolution having a at surface, said locking means on said ring being disposed so that when said locking means are in register with an adjacently-disposed ring in reverse position, the flat surfaces of the outermost convolutions of the ring abut the tlat surfaces of the innermost convolutions of a reversed ring.

7. A rotary street sweeper brush adapted to t over a mounting carrying at least one axially-disposed peripheral brush locking fin and comprising a metal mounting ring, a circular row of radially extending bristles mounted in said ring, said ring with bristles thereon being bulged out radially, from a normally flat plane, into multiplanar alternating innermost and outermost convolutions theoretically radiating from the ring center, the center portion of each convolution having a flat surface, at least one slot cut into the inner edge of said ring and designed to t and lock over a locking fin and disposed so that the flat surfaces of innermost convolutions of said ring would abut the flat surfaces of outermost convolutions of a similar brush ring similarly and adjacently mounted in reverse position.

8. A rotary street sweeper brush according to claim 7 in which each ring has three equally spaced innermost convolutions and an equal number of outermost convolutions, and a slot is disposed in the center of each of the innermost convolutions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,349,644 Wesemeyer May 23, 1944 2,757,400 Peterson Aug. 7, 1956 2,789,302 Schofield Apr. 23, 1957 2,824,327 Van Clief Feb. 25, 1958 

